SUPERGIRL 3.20 Review “Dark Side of the Moon”

This post contains spoilers for Supergirl. Check out our review for last week's episode here.

When we saw Alura in the preview for this week’s Supergirl, it was assumed that Mon-El and Kara had stumbled into a time loop, or perhaps accidentally traveled to one of the infinite earths’ galaxies. Instead, it was the DCTV universe introducing Argo. Though the planet of Krypton and, presumably, most of the continent of Lurvan were lost when Krypton exploded, Argo City remains safe. The city’s origins are a bit different in Supergirl than they’ve been in the comics, but seeing its introduction into the story adds some exciting prospects for the Girl of Steel. Prospects that will undoubtedly lead to some internal conflict moving forward, but for now they’re on a mission for a rock.

“Dark Side of the Moon” delivered some touching and emotional interactions between Kara and her mother, but doesn’t do much for the main story. It’s nice to see that Kryptonians have moved past their previously held discrimination against Daxamites, and that Alura feels terrible for the part she played in Fort Roz. But “nice” doesn’t equate to good storytelling in this instance. There was hope for the side-story on Earth to push the season forward, but instead of using someone relevant to Reign’s arc (say, perhaps, an Acolyte?) they use a throw-away alien brother of one of the Fort Roz escapees for the person trying to off Alex.

This was all an attempt to bring Alura’s crimes back into the forefront of viewers’ minds so that her apology for it all actually meant something, but rehashing an old arc from the show’s first season wasn’t the best bet that could have been made. Alex’s portion of the story does bring up a conversation that working women (particularly those in law enforcement, the military, etc.) have to face every day: can I be a mom while putting my life on the line? It’s a great topic for Supergirl to tackle; it would just be a whole lot better if it were done in a way that involved actual stakes for the show.

While Alex is dealing with her would-be murderer and Kara’s trying to bargain with the council on Argo, Reign is giving Lena hell. As a Luthor, Lena’s had to struggle with her darkness all of her life, and Reign knows exactly which buttons to push and how hard. Now that she’s built an immunity for the synthetic kryptonite, she seems unworried by Lena and her kill switch. Just about as unworried as the dark Kryptonian who has been wrangling the World Killers. It seems she's been playing double duty and acting as a council member on Argo. The very same council member who acts as the deciding vote to give Kara and Mon-El what they need to (they believe) turn Reign back into Sam.

It looks like the Witches of Juru aren’t just alive and well, but they’re influencing decisions on Argo. We’ll see more of this story unfold when Kara returns to her family next week in what looks like both a quick and questionable turn of events.

By the end of “Dark Side of the Moon” we see that Reign has escaped. Presumably, Supergirl and the rest of the DEO will have to think that they’ve won before Kara returns to Argo to be with her people, but we see Reign wreaking havoc in next week’s preview. Even if you eliminate the threat to Earth, the goodbyes we hear seem quick considering the Girl of Steel’s life is with humanity now, but we’ve seen just how much the weight of duel identities is getting to her.

All in all, Supergirl has many questions to answer before its impending finale. Hopefully we’ll see some course correction on all fronts as we go into season four, but in the meantime we can all get ready for more time with Alura and the rest of the surviving Kryptonians on Argo. Probably an explosion or two, if you’re good.